Meltdown
by fialka62
Summary: Yes, it's another girl in a refrigerator, but this time, she's not alone. Pre-ep for Countdown. No real spoilers, but if you're really phobic you might want to wait till Tuesday.
1. Chapter 1

_No real spoilers, only my own take on what I'd like to see, which I'm sure we won't. Some medical details handwaved to stick with canon, which will undoubtedly ignore pesky details like frostbite, etc. Special thanks to DFMB for once again coming through with the Insta!Beta on short notice, especially Cartographical for the comma patrol (-_o)._

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Without consciousness to spur the fight, her breathing slows to the point where he's not even certain she's breathing anymore. Castle thanks whatever inspiration made him send Derrick Storm off to the Himalyas that once, so that at least he knows what _not _to do. Don't rub her arms, don't move her too much, just tilt her head gently back, cover her mouth with his and breathe warm air into her lungs.

He's stopped shivering himself, and he knows that isn't good. His own sudden conviction that he's burning up can't help her; there's no actual warmth to share, just an illusion brought on by his own body beginning to shut down. He can't do that, can't go to sleep no matter how warm and peaceful that choice might seem. Kate isn't dead until she's warm and dead; it's up to him to keep her alive until help comes. Castle breathes in for himself, out for her, and hopes that help has figured out they need it, because if help doesn't come soon they might stay like this forever, frozen in the embrace they never really had while they were alive.

0-0-0

'Let her go, bro,' he hears Esposito saying, and he smiles because it's warm where he is, and Kate is there, magnificent in a tiny red dress, endless legs peeking out from a slit that goes all the way to her waist. She's barefoot, carrying her shoes, and he realises there's sand beneath their feet. It's a beach, and Kate is holding out her free hand, her smile a mix of shy and lascivious that leaves him frozen in awe.

'Castle, listen to me, you gotta let her go,' Esposito is saying, and suddenly the beach is gone and the world is blue, and Esposito is kneeling in front of him, his face almost purple in the light reflecting off the frost on the walls. Ryan is standing above him, gesturing and shouting at someone outside the door, and the door is open. Help has finally come.

'Kate.' Castle can't actually feel his body at all; it takes all his concentration just to tilt his head enough to look down. Kate is still curled against him, her head tipped back against his shoulder, frost on her lashes and in her hair, her face slack and grey.

'Let the medics take her, Castle.' Esposito's voice breaks, and when Castle raises his eyes again, either ice is forming on the other man's face or he's crying. 'Please.'

'Kate?' It's not a question any of them can answer, not while Castle's holding her, but he can't - physically can not - let go. His arms, his legs, his whole body feels as if it will never move again, as if he'll be shaped around her absence long after she's gone.

Strangers come to replace Esposito and Ryan, and one of them pulls Castle's eyelid back to flash a light in his eye. 'Do you know how long you've been in here, sir?'

Castle closes his eyes, unable to find words. How the hell is he supposed to know the answer to something like that?

'What's her name?' asks the other, and that at least much Castle can manage. It seems to be the only word he still knows.

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_Conclusion tomorrow. And yes, I really mean __**tomorrow,**__ before the show. _


	2. Chapter 2

He wakes in a bed, shivering violently under a blanket that feels unnaturally warm to the touch. Images flash through his mind, disjointed and dreamlike. The paramedics prying Beckett from his arms, so gently it was as if they expected both of them to disintegrate at the slightest touch, her hair tumbling free of the hood the only movement he could see as they carried her away.

_Kate. Oh, god, Kate._

Panic drives him staggering out of bed on stiff legs. He has to know where she is. How she is. _Now._

'Whoa, whoa, hey there, Castle, settle down.'

It's Ryan, hair askew and eyes dark ringed with exhaustion, firmly pushing Castle back towards the bed. Dimly, Castle registers Esposito sprawled in a green faux leather chair by the door, snoring loudly.

'Kate?' Castle rasps, surprised at how hard it is to get even that word out.

'In ICU. Alive. She's alive, Castle. She made it.'

Relief takes his knees, and Ryan does the rest, pushing Castle back onto the warm blankets. 'You gotta rest, bro. It's three o'clock in the morning, they're not gonna let you see her right now.'

'Bomb! There's a-' Again he tries to get up, again Ryan pushes him back.

'Done, disarmed, disposed. Place we found you guys? I guess they weren't too worried about being found out, cause they left their stuff right out in the open. Plans, maps, you name it. We got 'em down in the financial district, about two hours after we got you.

'Alexis?'

'Called her to let her know you're fine. Your mother had to practically tie her to a chair to keep her from walking back to the city in the middle of the night. They'll be catching the first train tomorrow.'

Castle's tongue is suddenly thick and dry and there's nothing to moisten his mouth. Ryan snags a bottle of Coke from between Esposito's knees, uncaps it and hands it to him. The liquid is warm and sickly sweet but it's enough to get his mouth working, even if his hands are still so stiff he can barely wrap them around the bottle.

'Kate. Take me to her. Please.'

'You need to sleep.'

'I need to see her. I'm not going to sleep until I've seen her for myself.'

Something in his face must have convinced Ryan. Or maybe it's as simple as Ryan has a Jenny; he can imagine how this must feel. A kick to the foot to wake Esposito, a quick exchange and somehow there's a wheelchair and a plan.

Castle smiles as they wheel him down the hall like a couple of kids playing war, with Esposito taking up commando positions at the corners of the hall, scoping for nurses before waving them along. Ryan has a Jenny, Esposito has a Lanie. Castle has a Kate, even if she doesn't yet know she's his.

0-0-0

They can distract the one night nurse in ICU, but not the cameras trained on each bed. Just as well, since neither Ryan nor Esposito are family, so they haven't been allowed to visit Beckett yet, and neither is sure which room she's in. The night nurse is a tiny blonde who hardly looks old enough to drink, let alone left in charge of a unit full of patients on the edge of life and death. After a moment's huddle, they send Esposito off to work his Latino magic on the nurse while he checks the displays for a familiar face. Ryan keeps an eye around the corner, waiting for Esposito's signal, while Castle rolls his chair impatiently back and forth in lieu of pacing.

'Number six,' Ryan finally whispers and puts a heavy hand on Castle's shoulder, as if bidding him farewell before an unwinnable battle. 'We'll hold the whitecoats off as long as we can.'

Castle spins and takes off, rolling as fast as he can considering he's still not too good at gripping the wheels. He's shivering again, clad in nothing but a stupid-looking hospital gown and Esposito's leather jacket, but he suspects the shortness of breath and racing heart he's experiencing have nothing to do with cold hallways or his still abnormally low core temp.

And then he's there, beside her bed, and she's there, pale as snow and slightly frostbitten, the tip of her nose shiny with ointment. Like he was, she's under an electric blanket, but her cheek, when he touches it, feels cool even to his own still-cold hands.

She moves when he touches her, turns her face towards his palm.

'Castle.'

Her voice sounds as it did in the freezer, slurred and thready, supported by only the barest breath of life.

'I'm here,' he whispers.

'They said you were okay.' A momentary argument with her eyelids and then they finally part halfway, and he makes himself smile like everything they just went through was nothing, was part of an ordinary day. And in a way, as long as she's all right, as long as they're both going to walk away from this undamaged, it _is _just another day, only slightly more exciting than any other that they've shared. 'I'm so glad.'

'Are you okay?'

'Yeah. They just want me here for observation.'

Her eyes are closing again, even as she struggles to keep them open. 'I'll let you sleep,' he says, moving his hand to her hair for a moment. 'I just wanted to say hi.'

'I'm still so cold,' she murmurs. 'Are you still cold?'

'Yeah.'

She opens her eyes again, long white fingers tugging on the covers. She hasn't got the strength to pull the heavy blanket back, but he gets the message, the unspoken need. Carefully, he manages to climb out of the wheelchair and onto the bed, smoothing the covers down over both of them. Kate settles herself against his side, head in the hollow of his shoulder, cradled in the curve of his arm. This time, when she closes her eyes and drifts away, all he can do is hope the boys do their job so well that no one ever finds them at all.

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End file.
